


phase change

by qqtahng



Series: Princely Relations [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 08:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15190589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qqtahng/pseuds/qqtahng
Summary: The light of the moon makes everything softer.





	phase change

**Author's Note:**

> feh in chinese has takumi's name written as 拓海 just so y'all know im not bullshitting my way through this

Nohr was a dark place, both literally and figuratively. Even after the war had subsided, it remained that way, although the darkness was a considerably less suffocating. The days were still cold and sharp, the nights even more so. The people had grown accustomed to it. There were those who stole warmth and light from others to survive and those who shared and gave it away willingly. After the war subsided, the Nohrian population was slowly transforming into a populace that would perform the latter. A kinder future was on its way.

Despite the growth, it would never match Hoshido, eponymously named the Kingdom of Light,  in terms of pure warmth.

At least, that was Takumi thought when he found himself sitting outside and gazing at the full moon. He might have been a little biased.

It was slightly chilly outside, but he didn’t really care. This was one of the few nights in Nohr where no clouds covered the moon and the stars shone clearly onto the barren lands. It was quiet.

“Oh? What is little Prince Takumi doing out here?”

Well, it _was_ quiet.

“Hello, Niles.” Takumi greeted curtly.

Niles took that as an invitation and plopped himself down next to Takumi, “My, my, I didn’t think my simple greeting would set you on edge so much.”

It wasn’t as if Takumi hated him, but they had simply never interacted much during their countries’ shared strife. He often spent time with Leo, but Niles preferred to stay in the shadows to watch over his liege and the two had probably never spoken more than twenty words directly to each other. Niles’ unsavory reputation didn’t do much to bolster Takumi’s opinion of him either. 

“You can’t blame me considering our relationship. Or lack thereof.”

“Oooh, our relationship, eh?” Niles’ eyebrows shot up and a smirk graced his face, “Tell me more.”

“Niles, please,” He sighed, “I’m just trying to enjoy this sight.”

“Ah, so he says. I sense there’s another reason that the princeling is up at this hour.” Niles had a guess, and the faint circles under Takumi’s eyes only strengthened his theory.

When Takumi offered nothing, Niles pressed on, “Nightmares trouble your dreamless slumbers yet again?”

Takumi’s posture stiffened as he became extremely defensive, “Look, I know the fighting is over but-”

“Don’t try to fool me, I’ve got them too.” Niles cut him off with a casual hand wave.

“-it doesn’t… oh.” He finished lamely. “Thanks for the cut-off…”

“You are ever so welcome. So what was it this time? Your worst fears being eaten alive by even worse fears, death of a loved one, death of yourself, death of a loved one caused by yourself?” He listed all of them off casually as if it was a list of errands. “Which one’s your poison?”

“...I’m not about to discuss something that personal with someone like you.”

“Someone like me, eh? So instead you come out to stew in them by yourself by the light of the moon. A good strategy.”

“Unlike discussing it with someone who is essentially a complete stranger, the moon soothes me.” Takumi prepared himself for Niles’ signature ridicule.

“Oh? Finally another man of culture.”

Takumi looked at him quizzically. That wasn’t the response he was anticipating. Niles only shrugged in response.

“The moon always fascinated me. Most are obsessed with the sun, considering we are in sore need of it here. It’s not too often that I meet someone with the same tastes as I here in Nohr. ”

“...This may be our only shared taste.”

“Oh, Prince Takumi! You truly wound me.” Niles swooned dramatically, “But on a more serious note, what draws you to her?”

“...Her?”

“Ah, I often forget most people don’t share the the same stories. Allow me to explain,” Niles shifted into a more comfortable position, “Back when I was a lowly thief, long before milord Leo saved my pathetic being, there was a fellow thief that I bonded quite well with.”

Takumi tensed and gave him a guarded look at which Niles scoffed at, “I know what you’re thinking, and no, it was not that kind of bonding.” Takumi relaxed a little after hearing that, and looked just a bit apologetic.

“I know it’s rude to assume but… given the things you say to people on a daily basis… I couldn’t have been the only one to jump to that conclusion.”

“Well, you’re two out of three. Lord Leo had the same reaction. Odin… well, he always has marched to a different drum. Said something about how ‘bonds give people strength’ before launching into a dramatic monologue of his own.” Niles waved a hand in dismissal, “But that’s another topic entirely.”

“As I was saying before, I had a close friend while in my merry band of idiots. She came from a land away from Nohr, so she and I would swap stories. Folktales, mythology, town rumors, you get the gist. One of my favorite tales she told me about were stories about their moon goddess who they called Diana.”

“Huh, a female lunar deity…. Interesting. Nothing like Tsukuyomi...” Takumi muttered for a while before he noticed Niles looking pointedly at him. “Oh! Shit, I interrupted didn’t I? You can keep going now.”

“Thank you. Now Diana, she was regarded not only as the goddess of the moon, but also the goddess of the hunt in her lands. You know what that means right?” Niles mimed the action of shooting an arrow at the moon.

“She had good taste in weapons…?” Takumi said questioningly.

That got a laugh out of Niles, “Well, you’re not wrong and I can’t disagree with you there. Oh look, just another taste we share.”

Takumi huffed, “I suppose you’re right.”

“Yes, I am. But anyway, that’s why I call the moon she. I do believe Nohr knows the moon as Mani, but I personally think Diana has the better ring to it.”

“Ah, I understand now.”

“And now that you understand, I’ll repeat my previous question: what draws you to her?”

Takumi regarded him with a look for a moment before he spoke carefully, “I feel like my reasons and your reasons differ. I’d be willing to share, but only if the feeling is mutual.”

“Hm, intriguing. Is this your way of asking me to share my lunar affections first?”

A beat of silence, “...Yes.”

“Very well, very well.” Niles rolled his head, “As a child the moon was reminiscent of a raven’s eye to me, so there would just be a giant crow in the sky, blinking slowly. But it only had one eye, like yours truly. Sometimes you would see it there, and other times it was invisible. Simply put, it reminds me of myself. Not always seen, but you know that it’s always there watching over you. ” He gave a small nod, “And that, would be my reasoning. Nothing too complicated.”

“Huh, that’s… a legitimately interesting reason.” Takumi ran his hand through his ponytail nervously, “I’d hate to admit it but mine is nowhere near as whimsical.”

“I asked because I was curious, not because I was looking for a fantastical tale.”

“Alright… if you insist.” He shifted and crossed his legs, “You know how the Hoshidan writing system works, right?”

Niles hummed, “Not too well, I’m afraid to admit. Enlighten a poor piece of Nohrian scum why don’t you?”

Takumi rolled his eyes, “I thought we left that behind. Fine, I’ll give you a brief explanation. Basically, we have words that can represented with a series of various characters. Some words can be written with what I can only describe to you as a quasi-alphabetic, phonetic script and others are set to these pictogram-like characters.” Takumi began writing in the dirt, “So this is your name in Hoshidan. It’s written in a phonetic script because there’s no word for ‘Niles’ in Hoshidan. Actually wait, scratch that,” He wiped the writing away and began writing something else and pointed to it, “These are the characters for ‘Niles’. They’re also the characters for ‘really weird’.”

Niles barked out in laughter, which made Takumi surprised, if his little jump was anything to go by. “Is that how I appear to you, Prince Takumi? Really weird?”

“Well, I was just sitting here minding my own business and then you show up and start questioning me about the personal demons that appear in my sleep and my motives for enjoying the moon right out of the blue!” Takumi said defensively, “Nevermind the fact that we’ve hardly spoken prior to this conversation. I’ve had as much social interaction with you as I’ve had from the storekeeper who sells kinshi feed. Except I know that he doesn’t want to steal and torture my soul.”

“Ouch, that does sting. Do tell me more.” Niles waggled his eyebrows.

Takumi rolled his eyes, “I’d punch you if I wasn’t so scared of contracting your weirdness.”

“So now you’re afraid of me? Interesting. I’ll keep that filed away for later.”

“No! I never said that! Ugh,” He crossed his arms, “Why do I even bother.”

Niles felt like he was pushing it, “Okay hey, look sorry if I overstepped anything. I’m under orders from Lord Leo to try and behave my best around important folks. Which is why I even approached you in the first place. If I know you better, I’ll know where to draw the line. If you don’t wanna talk, I’ll try my best not to push. ...But I really am serious about the whole moon thing, not many folks tend to appreciate her here.”

Takumi was silent for a few moments and narrowed his eyes before he sighed, “Fine, I suppose if you truly are so interested, I guess I could continue.”

He cleared his throat, “So, you understand how written Hoshidan works now, yeah? At least a little better? Well, there’s two ways to write my name: one in the phonetic script,” Takumi wrote in the dirt as he was saying this, “The other has actual characters that mean something. Usually the royal family has their name written in the phonetic script because a lot of poorer villages don’t know the complex characters our names traditionally use and can’t read them. But the ones that traditionally make up my name are the ones for ‘expand’ and ‘ocean’ which essentially makes my name ‘one which expands the oceans’, so...”

“Just like the moon’s gravity greatens the tides, hence you feel a connection.” Niles finished for him.

Takumi nodded, “That’s it. See? Nowhere near as whimsical as your giant crow.” He hugged his knees close to his chest and looked up at the moon.

“...It’s not a bad reason though. Quite similar to mine, actually.” Niles offered, uncharacteristically quiet, “Given your nature, I’m going to hazard a guess and say that the name is important to you because of your mother?”

“Am I really that easy to read?”

“It seems to be where a lot of your issues lay. Aside from your overwhelming inferiority complex but that’s a different wound to prod on another day.”

“Wow gee thanks…” Takumi pouted, “But, yeah. My actual mother died not long after Sakura was born, so I was still pretty young. It was one of the few things she left behind for me specifically.”

“Does it not remind you of King Sumeragi either?” Niles thought it was a valid question.

Takumi let out an amused huff, “It does, to a degree. Sumeragi was a great king, and he wasn’t a bad father by any means, but he was a really awkward father. I was told that my mother named all of us by herself because the first time our father held each of us, he always looked so nervous. Like he, and I quote, ‘thought he would drop us, accidentally shatter us, and have to be the one to have to glue our broken baby bits back together while in tears’.”

“Huh. Sounds like King Sumeragi was a real softy.”

“He tried to be. Like I said, he was a good king, but an awkward father. I knew he loved us though. Which is enough for me.”

Niles whistled low, “Must’ve been nice.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re not mocking me.”

“Not this time my dear Prince Takumi. Not this time.”

“...Thanks.”

The two sat for awhile in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it felt as if something else should have been said.

“Listen, Prince Takumi,” Niles said, suddenly serious, “I meant what I said earlier. I’d like to try and become friends. Lord Leo requested that I try at least, but now I find myself genuinely pleased by your company.”

“...Does that mean I’ll become less of a target for you taunts?”

“I’ll be honest, only time will tell for that.”

Takumi made a contemplative sound, “Hm… Well, I’m willing to try if you are.”

“It’s mutual then. Fantastic.” Niles laid down on the ground. Takumi followed suit. “Since I’m assuming that neither of us plan on going inside anytime soon,” Niles arched an eyebrow, “I feel like it’s only fair that you trade a Hoshidan tale of the moon in return for mine.”

“Is this how friendships work with you? Trades of everything equal? Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth? A Reason for a reason?”

“Is that a problem?”

“...No. Not yet anyway. Hm...”

Takumi was silent for a few moments.

“Okay, it’s not really a moon deity, but there’s a common Hoshidan story we tell to kids about a rabbit that makes mochi on the moon…”

So the two talked. They traded. And the moon watched.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i literally did 5 seconds of research on anything that sounded even vaguely factual here yeehaw


End file.
